Show not recorded due to UID change?

[IT Troll]

Another why didn't it record post from me. This time I think it is because the series UID changed. I set Media Center to record a new series and confirmed that the first episode was scheduled. I then went away for week. When I returned I found that the first episode had not been recorded (no errors logged) and no further episodes are being recognised. I created a new series request and that has scheduled the recording of the upcoming episodes. I now have two series requests for this show.

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<SeriesRequest prototypicalProgram="!Program!EP03906631_0001" prototypicalService="!Service!EPG123_83282" channel="00014" creationTime="2021-06-22T17:32:58.444208Z" sourceName="" complete="false" prototypicalStartTime="2021-06-29T20:00:00Z" prototypicalDuration="PT50M" prototypicalLanguage="en-gb" prototypicalTitle="Hemingway" prototypicalIsHdtv="true" prototypicalChannelNumber="106" anyChannel="false" anyLanguage="false" contentQualityPreference="0" scheduleLimit="0" tooManyScheduled="false" sourceTypeFilter="" prePaddingRequired="PT0S" prePaddingRequested="PT2M" postPaddingRequired="PT10M" postPaddingRequested="-PT10M" keepLength="-1" quality="0" isRecurring="false" recordingLimit="-1" runType="1" anyTime="true" dayOfWeekMask="127" airtime="PT0S" airtimeValid="false">
  <priorityToken priority="323840" />
  <series uid="!Series!03906631" title="Hemingway" shortTitle="" shortDescription="Ernest Hemingway is considered to be one of the great American writers." studio="" startAirdate="0001-01-01T00:00:00Z" endAirdate="0001-01-01T00:00:00Z" year="0">
    <description>Ernest Hemingway is one of the great American writers, with his work remaining influential around the world. This documentary paints an intimate picture of the writer, whilst also revealing a troubled, controversial and ultimately tragic figure.</description>
  </series>
</SeriesRequest>
<SeriesRequest prototypicalProgram="!Program!EP03762346_0008" prototypicalService="!Service!EPG123_83282" channel="00014" creationTime="2021-07-02T10:03:51.9486379Z" sourceName="" complete="false" prototypicalStartTime="2021-07-06T20:00:00Z" prototypicalDuration="PT50M" prototypicalLanguage="en-gb" prototypicalTitle="Hemingway" prototypicalIsHdtv="true" prototypicalChannelNumber="106" anyChannel="false" anyLanguage="false" contentQualityPreference="0" scheduleLimit="0" tooManyScheduled="false" sourceTypeFilter="" prePaddingRequired="PT0S" prePaddingRequested="PT2M" postPaddingRequired="PT10M" postPaddingRequested="-PT10M" keepLength="-1" quality="0" isRecurring="false" recordingLimit="-1" runType="1" anyTime="true" dayOfWeekMask="127" airtime="PT0S" airtimeValid="false">
  <priorityToken priority="324608" />
  <series uid="!Series!03762346" title="Hemingway" shortTitle="" shortDescription="The life and work of writer Ernest Hemingway, including his influence on literature and culture." studio="" startAirdate="0001-01-01T00:00:00Z" endAirdate="0001-01-01T00:00:00Z" year="0">
    <description>The visionary work and turbulent life of writer Ernest Hemingway, including his influence on literature and culture.</description>
  </series>
</SeriesRequest>

The guide data now only includes entries with the 03762346 UID.

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<Program id="2432" uid="!Program!EP03762346_0004" title="Hemingway" episodeTitle="#4 Hemingway (1/6)" description="Ernest Hemingway enjoys an idyllic childhood in Oak Park, Illinois. Yearning for adventure, he volunteers for the Red Cross during World War I. After the war, Hemingway marries Hadley Richardson, moves to Paris and begins his life as a writer. &#xD;&#xA;Production #4" shortDescription="Ernest Hemingway enjoys an idyllic childhood in Oak Park, Illinois." language="en-gb" episodeNumber="4" originalAirdate="2021-06-29" keywords="k6,k6015,k6056" series="si438" isDocumentary="true" isSeries="true" guideImage="">
  <ActorRole person="p5421" rank="1" character="Hemingway" />
  <WriterRole person="p5424" rank="6" />
  <DirectorRole person="p5422" rank="4" />
  <DirectorRole person="p5423" rank="5" />
</Program>
<Program id="2444" uid="!Program!EP03762346_0008" title="Hemingway" episodeTitle="#8 Hemingway (2/6)" description="In Paris, Hemingway publishes &quot;In Our Time' and `The Sun Also Rises'. He finds critical and commercial success with his second novel, `A Farewell to Arms&quot;. &#xD;&#xA;Production #8" shortDescription="In Paris, Hemingway publishes &quot;In Our Time' and `The Sun Also Rises&quot;." language="en-gb" episodeNumber="8" originalAirdate="2021-07-06" keywords="k6,k6015,k6056" series="si438" isDocumentary="true" isSeries="true" guideImage="">
  <ActorRole person="p5421" rank="1" character="Hemingway" />
  <WriterRole person="p5424" rank="6" />
  <DirectorRole person="p5422" rank="4" />
  <DirectorRole person="p5423" rank="5" />
</Program>

I am guessing this is an upstream data issue. But why would the UID change? This seems a dangerous change to make. Is there anyway to protect from this in future?

[garyan2]

Yah, it's upstream. I had this happen to me for a new series a couple years ago. I actually still have "both" series scheduled to record in case it keeps happening. I found that when a new episode showed in the guide it was one series ID and then could change to the other series ID before it actually aired. All the information was the same, just different ID which screwed up the recordings.

Did you get any thing in your trace.log file from the verify routine? If not, then WMC decided to accept the new ID while also deciding not to record the show.

[IT Troll]

Here are the verify runs between the series request being created (22/6) and the missed recording (29/6).

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[23/06/2021 06:15:11] Entering VerifyLoad()
[23/06/2021 06:15:12] [ INFO] Checked 4704 entries and corrected 0 of them.
[23/06/2021 06:15:12] Exiting VerifyLoad()
[24/06/2021 06:15:10] Entering VerifyLoad()
[24/06/2021 06:15:11] [ INFO] Checked 4445 entries and corrected 0 of them.
[24/06/2021 06:15:11] Exiting VerifyLoad()
[25/06/2021 06:16:06] Entering VerifyLoad()
[25/06/2021 06:16:06] [ INFO] Service MORE4 has a time discontinuity. Skipping verification of this station's schedule entries.
[25/06/2021 06:16:07] [ INFO] Checked 4053 entries and corrected 5 of them.
[25/06/2021 06:16:07] Exiting VerifyLoad()
[26/06/2021 06:15:15] Entering VerifyLoad()
[26/06/2021 06:15:15] [ INFO] Checked 5036 entries and corrected 0 of them.
[26/06/2021 06:15:15] Exiting VerifyLoad()
[27/06/2021 06:15:12] Entering VerifyLoad()
[27/06/2021 06:15:13] [ INFO] Checked 5102 entries and corrected 2 of them.
[27/06/2021 06:15:13] Exiting VerifyLoad()
[28/06/2021 06:15:10] Entering VerifyLoad()
[28/06/2021 06:15:10] [ INFO] Checked 4792 entries and corrected 0 of them.
[28/06/2021 06:15:10] Exiting VerifyLoad()
[29/06/2021 06:15:12] Entering VerifyLoad()
[29/06/2021 06:15:13] [ INFO] Checked 4843 entries and corrected 2 of them.
[29/06/2021 06:15:13] Exiting VerifyLoad()

The MORE4 entry is not a factor. This show was on a different channel (BBC4).

[garyan2]

Unfortunately, since WMC changed the programme entry and did not update the scheduled recording, EPG123 was not able to detect it. If WMC did not change it, during the verify process EPG123 would have given a warning that a scheduled programme was no longer set to record.

[IT Troll]

Thanks. I guess it is just something to watch out for with a new series. Hopefully it doesn't happen very frequently.

[Space]

This type of thing happened quite often with Rovi data but I have yet to see it myself with Gracenote (although I admit I haven't set up many new Series over the past couple years).

The earlier you set up the Series, the more likely it is to happen. For some reason the seriesId/tmsId for new series is initially one thing, but then gets changed later. For Rovi, this often happened AFTER the first/premiere episode aired, and sometimes even after the first two episodes aired!

One clue (on Rovi at least) that there was a potential for this to happen was that the new series did not have poster art yet. If it did not have poster art when I set up the Series, I would be sure to keep an eye on it to make sure it did not change within the next couple weeks. There was about an 80% chance the current seriesId was not going to be the permanent one if there was no poster art at the time I set up the Series.

[IT Troll]

I have discovered that this series was originally broadcast in the US by PBS America in 3 episodes. The BBC chopped it into 6 episodes for the UK broadcast. I wonder if this caused some confusion with the initial listing.